


That One Person

by RosaClearwater



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with an optional twist, M/M, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosaClearwater/pseuds/RosaClearwater
Summary: The sun glowed in the distance, attempted to send rays of indifference into the city. Though, he hardly needed any assistance in regard to sunny, feigned apathy.“Right building, Finch.”The building loomed before him.Or, rather, what hadn’t been taken in the blast just two years prior did.“For you.”





	1. Too Late for the Right Place

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I needed to write to honor someone who I absolutely miss. 
> 
> I will see if I can post for the other stories this weekend, but I definitely had to get this out today.

The sun glowed in the distance, attempted to send rays of indifference into the city. Though, he hardly needed any assistance in regard to sunny, feigned apathy.

 

_ “Right building, Finch.” _

 

The building loomed before him. 

 

Or, rather, what hadn’t been taken in the blast just two years prior did.

 

_ “For you.” _

 

He visited every year.

 

_ “Told you. Pay you back all at once. That’s the way I like it.” _

 

The first year, Grace -- so trusting, so willing to acknowledge the changes and still work past everything, everything that just wasn’t going to work any longer -- had attempted to accompany him.

 

He had apologetically slipped past her understanding, hesitantly swiveled around her beautiful attempts to help, and firmly brought only himself to this spot.

 

_ “This is what I do, remember?” _

 

This year, he traveled alone.

 

_ “At first, well, I’ve been trying to save the world for so long -- saving one life at a time seemed a bit anticlimactic.” _

 

Italy worked for a few brief months. The sun there was encouraging, warming, willing to melt away the chasm that had separated the two for so long. Their words dripped together onto a new canvas, blending old pains with new understandings.

 

_ “But then I realized, sometimes one life…” _

 

Yet there were no suits in Italy. 

 

_ “If it’s the right life…” _

 

There was no anonymity, no shadows to meld into. No descension of any kind -- only stumbling kindness and cautious warmth that happily stabbed itself into the air, trying so desperately to sew everything back together.

 

_ “That’s enough.” _

 

He can see the gunshots. Feel the dreaded acceptance. Can hear his own anger and despair shoot through the sky, piercing memory after memory. The chatter surrounding him, the energy that spoke of a different time and a far different crowd, could not shield him from the explosion his mind was currently living.

 

Harold closed his eyes, helpless to the ethereal shards of the past that were slicing through this terrible present. Horror brought forth by memory snaked through his body, slipping into and widening the cuts that remembrance brought.

 

“No.” 

 

Harold knew why John did what he did.

 

“Please.”

 

That didn’t mean he could ever truly come to terms with it.


	2. "Pick a Building, Harold."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, I see I’m not too late.”

He stood in the frigid sunlight, unable to move. Unable to swivel away from the building that laughingly stood in front of him, gleefully reminding him of his true incapabilities. 

 

So, Harold did the only thing that had kept him from falling apart these last two years:

 

He remembered.

 

And he spoke.

 

“So, I see I’m not too late.” That was another scene that never stopped replaying in his mind -- one where they both walked out alive. One that had started to convince Harold that they  _ could _ walk out alive when the end of this finally came. One where the night had blanketed them in possibility and had shielded him from having to see every detail the day inevitably brought forth. 

 

_ “I should have known you’d turn up here.” _

 

Harold laughed coldly, eyes still firmly closed -- he was still absolutely beyond able to properly fix himself upon the sight before him.  At least he could still hold on to the better times.

 

_“I told you to stay clear.”_ John's voice came closer, carrying itself calmly over the crowd of chatter currently claiming the streets. And with those wonderful voice echoed the other sounds of the city at night. Harold dipped further into reality, letting the details recall themselves: The Chrysler, the breeze that seemingly accompanied only rooftops, it all came back.

 

“Which is how I’d knew you’d put yourself in a situation life this, Mr. Reese.” 

 

But, he could only play along for so long. He could only re-enact that particular moment, one of the many where they had gotten away from it all, for only so long before his chest began to shake from tears long gone. 

 

A hand reached out, placing itself on the front of his worn-out suit, steadying the impending sobs. 

 

_ “Stay where you are, _  Harold .”

 

His eyes jolted open, immediately greeted with a face that asked for forgiveness. Guarded eyes met paralyzed ones, expecting nothing but hoping for more. And a suit, one that looked as worn out as the man before him, tentatively stepped forth.

 

“Stay _here_.”

 

A slight intake of breath escaped Harold as he took in the sight of the one man he wanted to see. Eyes set aside the questions, allowing trust to sift through murky waters. 

 

And in that moment, he knows exactly what to say.

 

"I'm not leaving you here, John."

 

The words seem so fitting, even if the tone and the moment itself has absolutely changed. 

 

"So, can we please stop wasting time?"

**Author's Note:**

> If you were here for pure angst and remembrance, this is your stop. If you want to see the alternate ending that is not quite pure angst and remembrance, that train has already arrived and is waiting for you :)


End file.
